<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Charles Barkley, the Round Mound Who Expounds on everything from the NBA to what ails the U.S.A., actually used to make his living playing basketball. And it was around this time every October, when the NBA's pre-season had dragged on far too long, that Barkley would say what everyone else was thinking. "Pre-season is a waste of time," Barkley would say. "Just a way to rip off the fans' money. The regular players only play for a quarter. Let's just play three pre-season games and get going." To this blast of circa-1990 nostalgia, we say: Hear, hear. This corner is still, indeed, shaking its head at the goings-on in Wednesday night's Rochester Rip-Off. If you missed it, the Raptors and Cavaliers drew more than 9,000 fans to an arena that hadn't hosted an NBA game since 1981. Cleveland's LeBron James was the focus of the marketing campaign that hyped the game. But James, though he wasn't injured, didn't play. The Cavaliers decided he needed an entire night off after playing 30 minutes the previous evening. The fans weren't happy. And James made them less happy by openly mocking their chants of "We want LeBron!" His decision to make a joke of the situation ? to actually get up and feign as though he was entering the game, only to sit back down ? was a cruel, cruel tease.</div> Source
Easy for him to say. He never had to prove himself to a coach to make a team. A lot of players depend on the preseason to demonstrate that they have NBA skills.
I think its stupid how some teams market the pre-season games to fans. They should be upfront and say if your bying tix there's a good chance you wont see your favorite stars playing.
I think pretty much any fan knows that preseason games really meaning nothing and they most likely won't see the big names play.
The preseason is fine to me. Believe it or not their are actual Basketball fans. And I'm not the richest man on earth so just seeing my favorite player for a quarter is all i need. 150 bucks for the 5th row at Staples during the Preseason as to an arm and a leg during the regular season, I'll take it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The fans weren't happy. And James made them less happy by openly mocking their chants of "We want LeBron!" His decision to make a joke of the situation — to actually get up and feign as though he was entering the game, only to sit back down — was a cruel, cruel tease.</div> That's low. It's that arrogance that makes me prefer guys like Bosh and Wade over Lebron.
Well, during preseason, all you want to accomplish is to get these players prepared for the season, not to prove point scoring 40 points over rookies and 2nd stringers. Players are also risking a lot by playing large amount of minutes in the preseason, just look at Antonio McDyess the year he came to New York. Also, it's the fan's choice to buy the tickets and come to the game, the coaches don't need to acknowledge their opinions at all.
